A Very Sushi Roller Christmas!

Every year on base, the base commander dedicates an auditorium to the Festival of Trees. All base organizations and commands have the opportunity to decorate a Christmas tree in the theme of their choosing. Many Japanese organizations with base affiliations also participate. I helped out my derby team, the Yokosuka Sushi Rollers with decorating our tree! There was also a pot luck and with lots of Japanese people participating it was chock-full of delicious Japanese food including sushi, grilled meat on a stick and rice balls. Here's some pictures:

Some of my derby sisters in front of our tree!

Our tree with the lights down.

Trying to get the centerpiece right.

Some other trees on our row.

All done!

You know it!

We had a helmet on top with a jammer panty!

A name plaque lets us know which one is ours.

Thanksgiving Photos!

My first pumpkin pie cooking!




I made deviled eggs!




Had these professionally made by my pastry friend :)







Some of the spread.







John was going to carve the turkey...




...but he was taking too long so his friend did it.




Food's gone!








Playing Taboo!



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Thanksgiving!

I was reading an article about the hardest American foods to find overseas and one food listed was whole turkeys. This is true. No where near me do they sell whole turkeys except for the military grocery store. This Thursday, John and I are combining Thanksgiving with a few friends and going to base. We will be in a large auditorium feeding those who may otherwise spend Thanksgiving in their barracks room or on a boat. Remember, not everyone wants to be in Japan and some people miss their home terribly especially during the holidays. Anything I can do to make Thanksgiving brighter for one person is a Thanksgiving well spent. Plus, some of our best friends are going to be there. It's going to be pretty great.

Here's a pre-Thaksgiving list of things I'm thankful for:

• A husband who loves me unconditionally and who works hard to give our family a home and a good life.
• The opportunity I have had in my life to make friends all over the world.
• My San Diego friends for making San Diego one of the best places I have ever lived. Not a day goes by I don't think about them and miss them.
• My family. My mom and dad have always been supportive and caring. I'm so happy technology makes it easy to talk to them whenever I need a voice from home. I'm also glad I've had the opportunity to get close to my sister and see what a wonderful creative mind she has.
• Christmas music.
• My dog sitting business has been a huge success and its really given me something to think about in terms of working for myself in the future.
• The fact I have so much food on my table this Thanksgiving and will be able to share it with friends and good company.
• The opportunity to live in Japan. It's been challenging and filled with anxiety at times, but I am so blessed and lucky to have this opportunity.
 

"Artsy" Japan photos

By artsy, I mean Hipstamatic...an iPhone photo app that can artsy the most mundane situations. I present "Japan via Hipstamatic!"






















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Old picture...

This is a picture from a few months ago. It's a smoker's table located indoors. When someone walks up to it a powerful fan (and from the smell of it an air purifier) turns on and sucks in the cigarette smoke. Ten Japanese businessmen were huddled around it smoking and you couldn't smell a thing. Very interesting.

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Japanese Snow Monkeys, Jigokudani

The last time I posted about the snow monkeys, I was too busy to write too much. On Christmas Eve, John and I will wake up early in the morning and ride a bus for seven hours. The destination will be a forest with a natural hot spring where wild snow monkeys roam. The snow monkeys are not in cages and apparently you can get as close to them as you want (not sure how close I want to get). There is guaranteed to be snow and all the freezing temperatures one can handle. That evening if we manage to make reservations in time, John and I will soak in a natural springs rooftop hot tub surrounded by snow and the quiet noises of the country side.

The next morning we will wake up to a traditional Japanese breakfast (nope, not eggs and sausage....rice balls, green tea and potato salad!), see the snow monkeys one more time and head back to Yokosuka. It's going to be a great Christmas and we can't wait to spend it together!

Here Until 2014!

About a month after arriving in Japan, we got news that the Navy was going to do lay offs. They were reviewing the records of 16,000 sailors in 31 overmanned rates and would be cutting 3,000 people. In case anyone has been under a rock, the US is in a financial crisis and the defense spending was one of the first things to go. Less defense spending equals a smaller force.

Basically, the US has reduced the defense budget yet people aren't leaving the military. Really, though, why leave? The job market is hard out there. So in order to get some movement in the ranks, people had to go. You can read more about the lay offs here:

From the Stennis Blog
Admiral's Blog

So to get back to the story, shortly after arriving in Japan John was told he was part of the group being considered for the lay off. We would find out in October 2011. If we were laid off, we would be told to go home by September 2012. Of course anxiety set in for me. We just got to Japan. We're just settling in. This was huge.

John and I discussed our options. We always want to prepare for the worst. We talked about buying a house in Las Vegas (cheap prices) and him going to school full time. It was really scary for me not to know. Then they pushed back the date they would inform everyone. October turned into November. More waiting.

Finally yesterday we were told we are here until 2014. We were not part of the 3,000 being laid off. Wow! This is amazing! So, if you're reading this and want to come visit you have until 2014 to do it!

Got a new car!

John is now the proud owner of a 1996 BMW! Now before you get excited over the luxury that is the BMW there's a few things you should know. First, the Japanese people are heavily taxed for older cars. So, they get rid of anything over five years old pretty quickly. Foreigners are not assessed the same taxes for older vehicles. Second, on a military base, people lower the prices on cars in order to get rid of them. You can't leave the command until you prove you've sold your car. BMW's and Mercedes abound on base simply because they're cheap. But besides people reading my blog, no one has to know we got this car for a steal ;)

In other news, I can start going back to derby practice and I'm going to start going to yoga. Man, it feels good to get a routine back where we don't have to worry about who gets to use the car and when. For example, yesterday we still had just the one car and I had to take John to work, go grocery shopping, go home, pick him up from work...and it's just a lot of driving. I'm really excited about this car and am glad to officially be a two car family.

Turned it down...

I turned down the NEX position. I *did* enjoy the interview and manager very much. It appears the NEX in Yokosuka treats their employees well. However, after consideration, I'd rather be paid a little more than what they offered.

In the meantime, my dog sitting business is fully booked for the month of November. That's exciting! I have turn away business for my little entrepreneurship. It's a pretty neat feeling and makes me want to further explore the option of opening my own business when we return to the US.

Also, we are in the process of getting another car. Don't want to speak on it too much yet until everything is final. But, things are looking good...

On to the next (or should I say NEX...ha!)

In case you didn't know, for the past four months, I've been working at the movie theaters on base. I only worked a couple of days a week. To be honest, without an outside job, I'd wither away in my pajamas all day. A job helps me get up, get dressed and do something useful with myself. I write articles from home for websites, but its very easy to get burned out from that job (writing all day about things you don't care about gets monotonous)...plus, there's the never coming out of pajamas problem again.

Well, the movie theater did not pan out. Don't get me wrong, it was a great job. It just did not fit into my schedule as I would have hoped. The hours were late (weeknights I'm off at 11pm and weekends it may be 2am or later) and I was not enjoying missing time with John, especially on weekend nights.I guess part of me should have foreseen the hours being a problem, but the job seemed perfect at the time. Anyway, there's no worries about moving on. The base has an extremely high turnover rate for part time employment. All jobs are used to seeing people come and go fairly quickly.

My new job is at the NEX checking ID's as people enter the store. One of my friends currently works there and she seems to like the work. The manager of the department talked it up as well saying how he values the employees and wants to ensure everyone is treated well. This perked my ears up because it has been a very long time since I've worked at a place that adores their employees. Probably not since my credit union job in Virginia. We will see how this goes. I'm crossing my fingers that I really like the job and the people. Oh, and if you see me there, say hello!

Wylee is back!

After six months in quarantine, Wylee is back with us! The family that watched him for six months did a wonderful job and they were sad to see him go. I think Wylee misses them too because for the first few days he moped about the house.

I've been trying to take Wylee on long walks all over our. neighborhood. Today someone asked his name and then promptly started calling him Wyleechan. It was great.

It feels good to have our dog back, we missed him terribly. He's lived with other dogs for over six months now and I think he misses the companionship. Maybe it's time to get another dog...
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